KA WHAWHAI TONU – STRUGGLE WITHOUT END, New Zealand, 2024. Starring Temuera Morrison, Paku Fernandez, Miriama Smith, Hinerangi Harawira-Nicholas, Jason Flemyng. Directed by Mike Jonathan. 115 minutes. Rated M (Mature themes, violence and coarse language).
The middle of 2024 has seen the release of significant New Zealand films with Maori themes. First, there was Lee Tamahori’s The Convert. Soon after came the contemporary story The Mountain, directed by Rachel House. And now this film with its Maori title, bold use of Maori language and presence, and an English subtitle, Struggle Without End.
The action of this film moves 30 years on from the 1830s of The Convert. This is a time of rebellion. A gathering of tribes take a stand at a fort and the attack of the British colonial soldiers, onslaught and subjugation. Again, as with The Convert, the cinematography of the New Zealand landscapes is beautiful and significant. As is the musical score.
The context of the narrative is the gathering of the tribal leaders to discuss war and the possibilities for peace. A significant leader, Rewi (Morrison, 30 years after his significant role in Once Were Warriors) is fierce. He holds traditional beliefs, but is also accepting of the Christian faith. There is a cameo from Curtis (also a star of Once Were Warriors) as a priest. Curtis wants peace. However, there are other fierce warriors who want action.
This is the framework for a central narrative which focuses on a teenage lad, Haki (an effective performance from Fernandez). Haki, who has a Maori mother and white soldier father (Flemyng), is captured, bound and gagged, telling a story of simply wanting to visit his grandmother. Also in the camp is a young woman who is considered to have special powers, contact with the gods, visions. The young and lonely woman, Kopu, is manipulated by her ambitious mother and kept apart from others having some mystical experiences and visions.
Most of the language of the film is Maori. There are the expected sequences, brutal as they are, of the British soldiers’ advance, of the fort defence, of massacre, there is also the story of Haki, at first skilfully helping with making the bullets, but then an escape with some of the younger people from the Fort.
But, there are moral dilemmas for Haki – the impact of his British military upbringing, his love for his mother and sadness at her death, and an option to follow his Maori heritage.
In many ways, the colonial-Maori clash is as expected, but is enhanced by the personal, young story at its core. And, at the end, there is information about the decline in the Maori population during the 19th century, but also about the changes and developments in place for Maori peoples at the end of the century into the present.
Transmission
Released 1 August